Luke 19

“So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully” (v6).  Zacchaeus the tax collector was eager to meet Jesus (v3-6).  Despite his past, Jesus saw the sincerity of his heart and declared, “Today salvation has come to this house” (v9).  People grumbled that a dishonest rich man was sharing a meal with Jesus, but the change in Zaccheus was real: he gave away half his wealth and more than repaid what he had stolen.  In contrast, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, he wept because so many ignored “the things that make for peace” (v42).

Jesus has come to “seek and to save the lost” (v10), and what matters most is how we receive him.